Dhaka, Dec 5 (Agencies): A senior leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called for the boycott of Indian goods on Thursday to protest against the attack on the Assistant High Commission in Agartala.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also set fire to the Indian saree belonging to his wife as an example, amidst the chanting of anti-Indian slogans by the party supporters.
“Those who tear down our country’s flag… we will boycott their (Indi’s) products,” he said while addressing a function in front of the Jatiya Press Club, UNB reported.
The event was held under the banner of ‘Buy local products and be blessed’ to encourage the boycott of Indian products and the use of Bangladeshi products.
Rizvi said Bangladeshi women should no longer buy Indian sarees, soaps, toothpaste or anything from India.
He claimed that Bangladesh is self-sufficient in onion production as well, and added, “So we will not be dependent on them (India)… we will boycott Indian products.”
Bangladesh imports large quantities of rice, onions and wheat from India besides raw materials for its industries.
He urged the women to boycott Indian-made sarees. “We will wear the sarees of Tangail, the silk sarees of Rajshahi, or the khaddar of Comilla,” he said.
Reprinting currency
The Bangladesh Bank has started printing currency notes with new designs inspired by the July-August uprising while dropping the image of the country’s founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
According to the central bank, the banknotes of Tk20, Tk100, Tk500, and Tk1000 are being printed with the new designs on orders from the army-backed interim government.
The new notes are expected to be released in the market within the next six months, the Daily Sun reported.
After the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on Aug 5, the Bangladesh Bank officials said that instead of Bangabandhu’s photo, images of religious structures, Bengali culture and the ‘July revolution graffiti’ would be added to the notes.
